Western Exiles’ Dilemma (1945-46)

Key Facts & Figures

By May 1945 Polish Armed Forces serving under British command totalled 194,460 with an additional 46,618 civilians and dependents

Yalta and Potsdam conferences in February and July 1945 respectively marked the beginnings of the Polish exile in the West by conceding Poland’s Eastern territories to the USSR

Whereas the other Allied armies eagerly anticipated their demobilisation, the future for the Poles seemed far from certain

By 1945 there was increasing anti-Polish sentiment in G.B.

On the 20th March, 1946, British Foreign Secretary, Ernest Bevin, issued a note to the Polish forces strongly recommending that the Poles should return to Poland to help in the country’s reconstruction

105,000 returned to Poland; 123,000 did not and stayed in the West – a further 21,000 were recruited from Polish communities around the world and they returned home after demobilisation

In the 1947 the British Parliament passed the Polish Resettlement Act. The disbandment of the Polish Armed Forces began apace and the Polish Resettlement Corps was formed.